On Monday, the price of Brent crude oil reached almost 95 dollars per barrel, reaching the highest level since November last year. During this year, the price of Brent oil has risen by about ten percent.
The US oil reference price WTI was also on the rise on Monday and reached around 92 dollars per barrel at 7 pm Finnish time.
The reason for the increase in oil prices is mainly the oil production cuts by the oil producing countries Opec and its Opec+ allies such as Russia. Chinese oil demand is expected to increase towards the end of the year, although the outlook for China’s economic recovery is still uncertain.
Bloomberg notes that the rise in the price of oil can cause inflationary pressure globally, which complicates the situation for central banks.
Last week, the European Central Bank decided to raise all three key interest rates by 0.25 percentage points. Interest rate decisions are expected this week from, among others, the US Fed and the Bank of England.